By Mark Blaudschun
Longtime FWAA member Ivan Maisel has a new book-- American Coach: The Triumph and Tragedy of Notre Dame Legend Frank Leahy-- being released this month.
If you are a Notre Dame fan, you should buy it.
If you are a college football fan, you should buy it.
If you are a sports fan, you should buy it.
Why?
Ivan Maisel, FWAA Bert McGrane recipient and former President of the organization, wrote it.
Sounds simplistic, doesn't it?
But in the rapidly changing, fast-paced world of sports journalism, where information is distributed in snippets, where the who, what and when of any event can be gathered off your phone, Maisel gives you more almost every time.
In terms of quality production in movies any Rob Reiner or Ron Howard directed film should be categorized as must see, Maisel's efforts should be regarded in similar fashion.
He gives you the why and the how to each story.
If there is a storyline in the present tense, he takes you along for the ride.
In the case of the Leahy book, he takes you on a time machine dating back more than 80 years and lets you watch as events unfolded.
Biographies are often fact filled, but many of them simply offer them without anecdotal flavor.
Full disclosure here. Maisel is a long time friend and FWAA colleague, which has not precluded us from offering criticism and comment when he has misstepped over a career which includes stops at Sports Illustrated, the Dallas Morning News and ESPN.
He has written five books, including a cathartic look at the death of son Max 10 years ago. He also has an Alabama upbringing which adds to his college football DNA and a Stanford University degree which elevates the profile
The Leahy book prompts a key question. Why?
Which is what sparked Maisel's interest.
"I was doing research for ESPN's 150 year (celebration of college football),'' Maisel said. "And I just noticed that Leahy had the second best record to (Knute) Rockne and wasn't elected to the College Football Hall of Fame for 13 years. I thought that was odd.''
Which is all it took for Maisel to begin putting together a profile of a coach who easily should be in the conversation of greatest coaches of all time, but almost never gets mentioned.
Give Maisel a research task and he becomes a true Roll Tide force of persistence.
There are other researchers who are just as relentless. The difference is in what is done with the information.
Maisel takes you step by step with Leahy, putting together the picture of a brilliant football coach, but a human haunted by his own demands which physically and emotionally wore him down.
Maisel takes us with him as he recounts the journey in almost present tense form, recalling conversations and practice sessions as if we are on the field or in the locker room as they occur.
He recounts a time when Leahy was coaching Boston College and the team was preparing for its Sugar Bowl appearance in 1941 when BC center Chet Gladchuk stood up and yelled something in Polish to BC fullback Mike Holovak.
Maisel takes us there, telling us that Leahy was concerned about everything the BC players did in preparation for the game including what they had to eat, which consisted of nothing more than cornflakes for breakfast.
After hearing what Gladclhuk had told him, Holvak laughed and right away Leahy stopped practice.
"Chester! Now Chester, what was it you just said to Mike?" Leahy asked.
Chet looked at him sheepishly and said, "Aw, Coach, it really wasn't anything."
But Leahy persisted. "Now lad, it had to be something to make Mike laugh, especially at a serious time like this."
"What I told Mike in Polish, Coach, is that you let him have an extra bowl of cornflakes (the reason why he was playing so well in practice).''
The book is filled with such tales, creating a sense of inclusion for the reader.
By most standards such a book is niche journalism at best because of a limited audience, but then again it is an Ivan Maisel production, which makes it a must read for a college football fan.
American Coach: The Triumph and Tragedy of Notre Dame Legend Frank Leahy
By Ivan Maisel Pre-ordered until release date of Sept. 16, 2025; 400 pages; Publisher Grand Central Publishing:
ISBN-139780306835780; Price: $30.00